Rubi
- a town in Apulia, now Ruvo, Hor. S. 1, 5, 94.
- —Hence, Rŭbustī-ni, ōrum, m., the inhabitants of Rubi, Plin. 3, 11, 16, § 105; Front. Colon. p. 127 Goes.
RUBI (Eth. Ῥυβαστεινός, Rubastinus: Ruvo), a city of Apulia, situated on the branch of the Appian Way between Canusia and Butuntum, and about 10 miles distant from the sea-coast. It is mentioned by Horace, as one of the places where Maecenas and his companions slept on the journey from Rome to Brundusium. (Hor. Sat. 1.5. 94.) The distance from Canusium is given as 23 miles in the Antonine Itinerary, and 30 in the Jerusalem Itinerary, which is the more correct, the direct distance on the map being above 28 miles. (Itin. Ant. p. 116; Itin. Hier. p. 610.) Neither Strabo nor Ptolemy notices the existence of Rubi, but the inhabitants are mentioned under the name of Rubustini by Pliny, among the municipal towns of Apulia, and the Rubustinus Ageri s enumerated in the Liber Coloniarum among the Civitates Apuliae. (Plin. Nat. 3.11. s. 16; Lib. Colon. p. 262.) An inscription also attests the municipal rank of Rubi in the reign of the younger Gordian. (Mommsen, Inscr. R. N. 624.) The singular ethnic form given by Pliny is confirmed by the evidence of coins which have the name ΡΥΒΑΣΤΕΙΝΩΝ at full. These coins show also that Rubi must have received a considerable amount of Greek influence and cultivation; and this is still more strongly confirmed by the discoveries which have been recently made by excavations there of numerous works of Greek art in bronze and terra cotta, as well as of vast numbers of painted vases, of great variety and beauty. These, however, like all the others found in Apulia and Lucania, are of inferior execution, and show a declining state of art as compared with those of Nola or Volci. All these objects have been discovered in tombs, and in some instances the walls of the tombs themselves have been found covered with paintings. (Romanelli, vol. 2. p. 172; Bullett. dell' Inst. Arch. 1829, p. 173, 1834, pp. 36, 164, 228, &c.) The modern town of Ruvo is still a considerable place, with an episcopal see. COIN OF RUBI.
[E.H.B]Now Ruvo; a town in Apulia, on the road from Canusium to Brundusium. Many vases have been found in the tombs on its site.
A city 8 km SE of Corato and in antiquity an ancient center of great importance, to judge by the wealth of archaeological evidence. Almost all of it comes from its necropolis, which extends along the base of the hill below the mediaeval and modern city. That the settlement dates to the 7th c. B.C. is suggested by geometric pottery and imported Corinthian vases. It is certain that between the end of the 6th c. and the mid 4th c. B.C. the city witnessed a period of great prosperity, documented by imported Attic and Tarentine vases, by tomb paintings, such as the dance scene now in the Naples Museum, and by exceptionally beautiful jewelry produced in Italy. During the 3d c. B.C., the city began to coin its own money in silver and bronze of the Tarentine type. These coins indicate that the inhabitants were called Rubasteinoi, similar to the name Rubustini mentioned by Pliny (HN 3.105) and to ager Rubustinus mentioned in the Liber Coloniarum (p. 262). Horace (Sat. 1.5.94) stopped there on his journey from Rome to Brindisi. In the Roman period Rubi had a certain importance, particularly after the opening of the Via Traiana of which it became a statio (It. Ant. 116; Hier. It. 610). An inscription with a dedication to Gordian III attests that the city was a municipium and had its own group of Augustales (CIL IX, 312).
The Museo Jatta preserves a rich collection of pottery coming from the necropolis.
BIBLIOGRAPHYEAA 6 (1965) 1039 (A. M. Martini); H. Sichtermann, Griechische Vasen in Unteritalien aus der Sammlung Jatta in Ruvo (1966).
F. G. LO PORTO